Day After Day
by Jujubee1981
Summary: A new beginning for 10.5 and Rose.  Set immediately after Journey's End.  I've decided to continue because of the great responses!  Thank you!  As a DW fanfic newbie, I am blown away!
1. Chapter 1

Rose looked up at the tall man in blue as he gripped her hand on the barren stretch of rocky beach. His serious expression, she knew, matched her own.

"I..." She began. Stopped, unable to express what she was feeling. Embarrassment? Hope? Despair? Love?

"I know." He said softly in reply. He looked down at their joined hands and wiggled his fingers slightly, loosening his grip and then lacing their fingers together and gripping tight. "S'okay?" He said, his voice a little rough.

"Yeah." Rose whispered, feeling the intimacy of that small shift in the way he held her hand woven with his long, clever fingers and recognizing what that small change meant.

"Let's go home." He said, somehow very in charge as usual.

"Yeah. Home." Rose murmured uncertainly but followed docilely, numbly in the his wake.

"Rose." He said, his voice still a little throaty. The way he said her name...she had desperately wanted to hear it again and the sound of it filled her heart. "Rose?" He said again, this time inquiring, and he stopped and turned to face her.

"D - Doctor?" She replied, lifting her eyes to meet his familiar, dark, and luminous gaze.

"Ehm. Where exactly _is_ home?" He said, his lips quirking into a rueful smile. _His _smile, the full lower lip and the slight wrinkling around his eyes.

Rose felt her lips move to smile in return automatically. Couldn't help it. "It's London."

"London then." He said, his eyes sparkling at her. The long dark lashes dipped as he glanced down at her mouth. When his gaze met hers again, it was darker. Liquid with intent.

Rose drew in a breath. She waited, holding that breath, as he dipped his head and brushed his lips across hers. Once. Twice. Feather-light but purposeful. She shivered, tasting him. Sugar and sea-salt and endless, fathomless time. "It's you." She murmured into his mouth.

"It's me." The Doctor confirmed, his lips moving against hers as he spoke. "New new new Doctor."

She giggled slightly as he lightly kissed the corner of her lips.

"But this time I'm your Doctor. Only yours." He said gravely.

She drew back, meeting his gaze with worried eyes. "But he...he..."

"He _does_ love you. He envies me." The Doctor said and, as he continued, his voice broke a little. "But he couldn't ever be only yours. Couldn't live, day after day, and give you what you needed from him...from _me_."

"I would've gone with you. I would've stayed with you forever."

"You would've given me everything I needed, but I couldn't give you the life you deserve. Couldn't make a home with you. Couldn't give you this." The new Doctor kissed her again and Rose responded in kind. A few frantic moments of giddy passion passed. When he pulled back, his breath was uneven and his pupils large. "I wanted to, but I couldn't. And I couldn't have done that to the woman that I...I..." The words were still difficult for him.

"I know." Rose said, and she really did know. "I just can't quite..._he's _still out there."

"And I'm him." The Doctor repeated what he'd said only minutes ago. "Remember when you and I first met? I said 'Run'. And when you and I met the second time, I told you I'd said 'Run'?"

"Yeah."

"Even then, it took you a little while to know that it was still me." The Doctor smiled tenderly at her. "It's still me. It always will be now."

"Okay." She said, not as sure as she sounded, but willing to try for him.

He smiled down at her as if reading her mind. His free hand reached up and stroked her cheek. "I've always loved you, Rose, but I..." He laughed bitterly, ironically. "I never had the _time_."

Rose hiccuped a laugh that sounded like a sob. "Always?" She asked.

"When you took the time vortex, when you saved me on Satellite Five?" He said. She nodded. "I...I kissed you then."

"What?" She blinked. "You never told me."

"It was the last thing I did in that body. Kissed Rose Tyler. What a way to go." He grinned suddenly. "And I loved you for it. For saving me, for being the Bad Wolf, for-for-for just...you. And I died, and I was reborn. I was reborn lo-loving you."

Rose sighed and a little chuckle of happiness bubbled out. His sensitive fingertips were stroking her cheek and his eyes were somehow intense and gentle all at once. His face, his eyes, his touch more than she'd ever hoped to see and feel from him. He opened his mouth to continue but she hushed him with a soft sound.

"Doctor...I think I've loved you since the very first time we met." She admitted, her eyes shining up at him just in the way he'd always privately fantasized. "With your leather jacket and your ears at that thick Northern accent. You were so mad a-and _dear_...and then...when you got so handsome and, well, I not only loved you, I - I wanted you. I wanted you to want me like...like a man would. But you weren't a man, were you? You were a Time Lord."

The Doctor released a shaky breath. "Rose Tyler." He said, and he drew her forward to rest his forehead against hers. "I may only be part human now, but I promise you that you made a man out of me long ago." His fingers dropped from her cheek to delicately trace her collarbone and neck. "Let's go home."

"Yes." She said. And she sounded certain. She smiled up at him.

He grinned, suddenly wild, his eyes lighting with that same, manic glee. "We'll have our greatest adventure yet! Day after day!"

Rose's smile spread wider and brighter and, suddenly, they were off! Running down the beach united hand in hand, racing toward a new life full of wonder and love.


	2. Chapter 2

They boarded the zeppelin together, the Doctor handing Rose up the steps. Jackie greeted them again with a distracted gesture to shut the door. She was chattering away in an animated voice to her husband and occasionally bursting into baby talk for her infant son.

"Hang on there, Pete." Jackie said. She pressed the phone to her bosom and said. "Oi, shut the door you two! We have eight hours in the air. I'm for bed, myself, as soon as Pete lets me off this phone. Oh, but he can talk my ear off."

Rose glanced up at the Doctor who was wearing his usual unbridled expression of bemused horror he reserved for encounters with her mother. Rose shut the hatchway and Jackie continued her chattering down one corridor and went into a cabin, shutting the door behind her which muffled her voice.

"Come on, Doctor, there's a lounge back here. Are you...hungry or anything? We have tea and marma, I know." She fussed nervously until the Doctor clasped her wrist loosely.

"Rose." He said steadily.

"Yeah?"

"S'just me." He smiled at her.

"I know. I just...huh." She blew out a breath. "Here we are."

"It's alright." He said. "Tea sounds lovely. And if there's a couch or something...I may have a nap myself."

"A nap?" Rose blinked at him.

"I never realized how_ tired_ you must have got sometimes. 'Course, I was just reborn today...and it's fair to say it's been an eventful one, at that." The Doctor smiled crookedly. "But mostly, I think I'm just a little knackered."

"There's two other staterooms 'sides mum's. We could have a nap..._you _could I mean."

The Doctor slid his thumb along the delicate bones of her wrist. "We could." He said. Agreeing deliberately. "We could have a nap."

Rose's eyes darkened and she felt goosebumps raise on her arm. The whole of the Doctor's considerable interest was focused on her. It took her breath away.

"T-tea first?" She finally stuttered.

"Tea first." He agreed and released her wrist to let her lead the way.

In the small galley, Rose fixed tea and spread butter and marmalade on toast. Added lemon biscuits, popping one into her mouth to check that they were fresh first. She brought them out to the lounge to find the Doctor stretched on a sofa with his eyes closed. She felt a wave of embarrassment, having obviously misread his implications around napping, when his long lashes raised lazily and he turned to smile at her.

"Thanks for making tea." He said with a casual intimacy.

Rose's uncertainty vanished and she huffed out a little laugh and put the tray on the table by the sofa.

"Sit!" He invited lightly, swinging his long legs off the couch and coming to his knees to inspect the tray. He peered into the teacups, divining which was his by the undissolved sugar coating the bottom. He sipped. "Ohhhh. Lovely." He pronounced, still kneeling. "You remembered how I like it."

Rose's full lips quirked in amusement. "Black with half a cup of sugar? Not exactly hard to remember."

"Donna never could. Deliberately, I think. Probably." He mused with a thousand yard stare. "She's probably...well, _really_ forgotten it now." He sighed and set down his cup to bury his face in his hands and run them through his wild hair. "I have to, _he _has to, that is..."

"You have to what?" Rose chose his words for him.

"I have to remove her memories." The Doctor said, his voice flat. "Of all of it. Of...me."

"Oh!" Rose whispered. She hesitated before bending and putting her arms around him. She placed a gentle hand on one lean shoulder blade, stroking. He shuddered a bit at her touch and Rose jerked back.

"No!" He said, and caught her hand in his, his voice a bit rough from unshed tears. "Don't stop. That's...nice."

Rose reached for his shoulders then, turning his body into her embrace. She cradled his head against her stomach as his long strong arms wrapped around her hips. Deep, heavy breaths shook his thin frame, his sweet-tea scented breath exhaled against Rose's belly. She felt her body grow warm and tingly and deliberately gentled her breathing and arms, stroking his hair and dropping a kiss on top of the wild brown nest. He scooted back slightly and raised his face to look into hers. His eyes, black with intensity, stared at her. He took a chest-deep inhalation through his nose, closed his eyes, exhaled silently and said "Your pheromones..." he sniffed again. "...are really something." Noting her embarrassed expression and the stiffening of her limbs, he hastened to clarify. "I mean..._good_! They're really very _good_. Definitely one of my favorite smells. Wait. That doesn't sound very nice either, does it?"

Rose had relaxed and was silently giggling down at his consternation. She ruffled his hair again, just because she could, and stepped slightly back from him. "I'll bet Donna will still know that something wonderful happened to her. I'll bet she'll never be the same...in a good way."

The Doctor smiled up at her, knowing Rose was doing her best, as usual, to make him hope. "That's what makes you different, I suppose." He mused aloud to her. He stood up, crowding into her space slightly.

"What's that?" She asked gently, long used to his non-sequiturs.

"You brought me hope. You were good. You were..._brave_. You _made_ me hope. That's what it was that made me take you along, in the beginning. Welllll...that and..." He didn't finish the thought and Rose watched in flustered fascination as his cheekbones went a little pink. He recovered and continued. "Even when you were lost, I kept going. I kept going because I still felt this ridiculous, baseless, _idiotic_ little bit of hope." His face had grown serious and his dark gaze intent.

"Hope for what?" Rose asked, whispered.

"That I'd be with you again." The Doctor stated. For a breathless, suspended moment he leaned toward her. Actually _leaned_ like a proper bloke about to kiss her. Then he straightened up abruptly as if he were a marionette and someone had tugged his strings. He grinned. "And, look!" The Doctor said. "I have!"

"Doctor." Rose said gravely.

"Yes?"

"Kiss me now."

The Doctor blinked, hesitated. "What?"

"You should kiss me now. Properly." Rose repeated, knowing he had heard her full well the first time.

"Yes, well..." He now blinked furiously for a moment, his gaze darting around before it settled onto hers again. "Well." He repeated. His dark-eyed gaze dipped when he looked at her mouth. He stepped forward and cleared his throat so nervously it could have been funny if Rose were in any mood to laugh. She felt his hands softly come to rest at her waist and he said, "Well." one more time before finally pressing his lips against hers firmly and squarely.

And then Rose was being kissed. Kissed and kissed. The Doctor devoured her as if he'd waited all of his nine-hundred-and-whatever years to have a taste of Rose Tyler.

And the last wonderful thought before she succumbed to the dizzy passion was: _maybe he had_.


	3. Chapter 3

A million things burned through the Doctor's mind.

Nine hundred and ninety nine thousand, nine hundred and ninety nine of them were concerned with Rose's petal-soft lips, her silky hair brushing his cheeks, the feel of her soft curves under his palms, the taste of black tea and lemon biscuits on her tongue as he swept into her mouth, and where he was now allowed to put his hands. He shuddered out a breath and allowed his hands to stroke up her sides, down, around, and flex shakily against the firm upper curve of her backside. One lone, bittersweet thought whispered of the TARDIS, his old life, Gallifrey, everything he had lost before and lost today...and dissolved into giddy bubbles when Rose purred in her throat and slid her hands under his jacket and the edge of his shirt to brush the skin of his stomach.

No one had ever touched him like this.

He broke their kiss with an audible pop and gaped down at her, gasping like a landed fish. "I..." He squeaked out. "Ahem!" he cleared his throat and began again. "I don't know, I..._don't know._" He managed finally, lamely.

Rose somehow understood what he was trying to communicate, nodded wildly at him and pulled at his waist toward a door leading into a well-appointed stateroom. "We'll figure it out, yeah? We always do, yeah?" She said, sounding certain but looking just as terrified as he felt.

The door closed behind them with the most profound soft, expensive click either had ever heard. A long, uncertain pause stretched as they both stared at the king bed, panting.

The Doctor finally wet his lips and responded. "Yeah." He reached for her, pulling her against his hard chest with a clumsy urgency that caused them both to tumble on their sides onto the mattress.

Their foreheads smacked together smartly.

"Oh!" Rose exclaimed upon impact and then, ridiculously, began to laugh. The Doctor couldn't help but follow her into mirth until they were both swiping merry tears from their eyes and holding each other in fierce relief. As the moment passed, they examined each other's skulls for any lasting damage and, finding none, smiled at one another. "I never thought I'd see you again." Rose said finally.

"I was sure of it." The Doctor replied, brushing a soft fall of baby-blond hair from her forehead gently. "So sure of so many things."

"Yeah?"

"Oh, yes." He said. "And then, whammy! Rose Tyler." He looked at her tenderly. She blossomed under his smile and snuggled her warm, soft body against him, causing all those urgent human feelings to rise in him again. He gently kissed her forehead where it was faintly red from their clumsy collision and held her against him, just grateful to have her in his arms again and trying hard not to think about the scent of her amazing pheromones.

Fortunately, he didn't have to overtax himself, because Rose began to press soft little kisses across his jawline and pluck at his jacket, unfastening buttons and pushing it back over his shoulders and down his arms until she managed to shove it to the floor with a little "ha!" of triumph before she tackled his t-shirt.

He took several quick, deep breaths before giving in to what he wanted to do, had wanted to do for a shamefully long time, and pulled down the zip on her jacket before wrestling it free from her arms and tossing it to land who-cared-where on the plush grey carpeting. Rose had given up on his t-shirt momentarily, he had been wriggling so to rid her of her jacket he'd made her task impossible, and had tugged her own top off over her head and toss it as carelessly as they had the others. She immediately followed with unhooking her bra and sliding it down her arms. The Doctor stilled in all his motions, confronting her bare breasts for the first time.

"Ah!" He said. It was a mere exhalation, but at the sound, Rose giggled nervously and moved her arms as if to cover herself. "No." The Doctor said swiftly. "No, no, no...nuhnuhnuhnononono." Faster and stronger than she, he caught her arms and held her loosely, taking his time gazing at all that smooth pink skin. He released one of her arms and gently ran the edge of one long, clever finger across her softness. "You look beautiful." He finally said, his voice lower and a little rough.

"F-for a human?" Rose said, giving back to him the words he had said to her so very long ago.

"For everything." The Doctor responded, a little nonsensically. "For _everything_." He repeated, as if that would make it clear. The emotion certainly was clear. He lifted his gaze from her body and met her eyes. His were shining with a familiar, delighted gleam. "I think I'm going to like these human hormones." He said at last.

Rose laughed and tugged at the arm he still held, drawing him back against her body. "I think we're both going to like 'em." She said with a cheeky grin, before pulling his red t-shirt up to his armpits, forcing him to raise his arms to tug it over his head. For a long moment she gazed at his naked torso and, realizing it was the first time she'd seen him too, the Doctor patiently flopped onto his back and watched her face as she swept her gaze over him.

He was lean, slimly muscled and fair-skinned. A sprinkling of dark hair ran across his chest and narrowed down his belly, disappearing into the waistband of his blue trousers.

Rose gravely studied him and finally he said, a little anxiously, "Okay?"

"I imagined you." Rose blurted, even as he reached "kay?"

"Oh, yes?"

"Lots of times." She said, unembarrassed. She ran a soft hand over his chest and down his lean stomach. "You're better than I'd imagined."

"Oh, yes?" The Doctor repeated stupidly, this time his voice was a little breathless. Her little hand running over his belly was causing a measurable drop in his remarkable verbosity. His blood was heating unfamiliarly in his body. He could hear his own single heartbeat thudding in his ears.

"Yeah. And I have a great imagination." Rose smiled impishly up into his wide-eyed gaze.

His face slowly blossomed into a grin and, even as they tugged, zipped, and pulled the last barriers away between them, they smiled at one another. Two pairs of dark eyes sparkling.

The next stretch of time could not have been adequately described by either of them after the fact, to say little of Jackie Tyler's teacup Yorkie, who had emerged from Jackie's stateroom and sat fascinated outside their door. She heard only shuffling, giggles, some heavy breathing, a rather loud bump followed by hastily muttered "Sorry!", "S'okay.", and finally a low groan and a muffled shriek. The Yorkie didn't know what any of these odd noises meant and, when she heard them begin to repeat themselves, she yawned and went to eat the rest of the toast and biscuits on the abandoned tea tray before her mistress could discover her absence.


	4. Chapter 4

The Doctor and Rose got their nap eventually.

The zeppelin touched down in London at 4:45 a.m. local time and the occupants of the stateroom that held an ancient half-alien and a human girl slept through the landing and then through most of the morning.

The Doctor woke first. He was momentarily disoriented as his mind reached out for the TARDIS and found nothingness. He opened his eyes, frowned, and recalled where he was.

The universe unfolded in his mind, time yawning infinitely before him as it usually did, and the Time Lord shook off the unfamiliar fogginess of prolonged sleep. The human man blinked and wondered why he couldn't feel his right arm. Turning with a frown, he found Rose asleep using his right shoulder as a pillow. She was quite, quite _wonderfully_ naked.

His mind reviewed every detail of what had occurred the previous night...twice...and once in the wee smalls that morning. He felt his blood warming just thinking about it and then had the sudden, unpleasant thought that he understood Jack Harkness much better this morning. This cooled him down a little and he gently extracted his arm from beneath his love and replaced it with his pillow, taking care not to wake her. He found his boxers on the floor and put them on before giving in to his usual urges and gazing down at the pink and gold girl asleep on the mussed bed.

Oh, she was so lovely when relaxed in slumber. The Doctor recalled sometimes looking for her in the TARDIS and finding her asleep. He'd watched her, on those occasions, with pounding hearts and hot, futile desires. Hungrily and guiltily. He bent over her now, sliding a lock of silky blond hair out of her face with one gentle fingertip, and took stock of his feelings.

Pounding heart, yes...just one.

Desire, yes.

Hunger, yes...but.

The futility and guilt had vanished.

He'd been living with those two constant, wretched emotions for...oh, so many hundreds of years. And, although he could still recall with vivid clarity each time that everyone had died, he now knew that it wasn't down to him. Not anymore. The burden of saving each soul in the whole of space and time had gone. Just like that. He sat down abruptly on the bed, overwhelmed.

Rose was jostled awake. She blinked open her eyes and smiled at him sleepily, then her eyebrows drew together. "You're crying." She said, her voice scratchy. She sat up, pulling the sheet up to cover her chest as she did, and scooted up beside him.

The Doctor touched his cheek in astonishment. It was wet. He rubbed his cheeks dry with both hands. "Sorry." He muttered, his voice rusty from sleep too. Eleven hours, fourteen minutes, and thirty-six seconds of it, his brain informed him instantly. "It's just that I was just thinking how happy I...how good everything is."

She smiled and her eyes started to tear up too.

"Now! No, don't do that." The Doctor said hastily.

Rose's eyes spilled over.

"No, _please_ don't do that." The Doctor was now frowning.

"I'm happy." Rose said. Her brilliant smile supported her statement. "You can cry because you're happy."

"I know that, but still." The Doctor shifted uncomfortably. "What am I supposed to do with you when you're crying?"

Rose gave a hiccup of a laugh. "Comfort me." She said. The Doctor looked down at her, hesitating briefly before hugging her tightly. His hand cupped the back of her neck and he brushed his mouth across hers.

"Yes?" He said, his lips moving against hers as he spoke.

"Yes." Rose said. "I love you."

"I love you." He replied. He rested his forehead against hers. "I missed you. I _missed_ you." He whispered fiercely.

Rose clung to him. "I missed you too." She said. "Every day."

"Every day." The Doctor agreed. They sat curled up together for a long moment. Finally, he gave a contented little sigh and kissed her temple. "Are we home, then?" He asked.

"Docked at my parents'." Rose said. She drew back and, adorably, turned a tiny bit pinker when she noticed the sheets had slipped and she was completely bare.

The Doctor didn't bother to hide his interest as she found her underthings and pulled them on. Why not enjoy the fascinating vision of a blushing Rose Tyler hunting for yesterday's pants? Why not, indeed?

"What time is it?" She said, not really asking, as she hooked her bra and ran her fingers through her tousled hair.

"Ten seventeen." The Doctor replied immediately. He paused. "Ten eighteen." He added.

"Huh." Rose stopped rummaging for her jeans under the bed and looked at him. "Can you still...?"

"Oh, yes."

"But you're human." Rose said, frowning.

"Well, I don't want to get Messianic or anything, but I'm both." The Doctor said. "Wholly Time Lord, wholly human. All of time, so little time." He quirked a rueful smile and shrugged.

"Let's go home." Rose suggested as she tugged her t-shirt over her head. "We can have Dad's driver bring us."

The Doctor stood up and began hunting his own clothes. As Rose left the room and disembarked the zeppelin to have a car brought round, the Doctor dressed. He was forced to go without his socks when a tiny brown dog entered the room and vomited lemon biscuits onto them just as he spied them under a chair.

Looking askance at the little creature he felt positive belonged to Jackie Tyler, he made his way out and found a black Mercedes and a smart-looking driver waiting at the foot of the gangway to the zeppelin. Rose was already inside the car and she waved him in.

"Dad says we can take the car for the day. I told him we'd need to get you some things. Want to go home and get cleaned up or go shopping first?" She asked.

"Oh, you know me." The Doctor replied. "Shopping!"

"I think that may be Donna's DNA talking." Rose chuckled at him.

He looked insulted and sulked a bit before volunteering. "I need socks. Your mum's dog used mine for _dark purposes_."

Rose laughed out loud. He shot her a scowl and then began twisting around in his seat avidly. "Where are we, exactly?" He asked curiously.

"Outside London, about an hour from home. That is...I assume you'll..." Rose trailed off and the Doctor, after a few moments, noticing something amiss, stopped squirming around and peering out the windows to examine her.

"You assume I'll...?" He prompted.

"Do you want to live with me?" Rose asked uncertainly. "I just assumed that...well...you know. After yesterday and...last night. But, if you don't want to...I -"

"Yes." The Doctor interrupted. He cocked his head. "Rose, I said I'd spend my whole life with you, if you wanted. I only have one life. Time's a-wasting."

Rose smiled. "If you're sure."

"Oh, I'm sure." The Doctor said emphatically. Then he began twisting and peering again, the matter having evidently been settled to his satisfaction.

Rose sat back and reflected on suddenly having everything she ever needed and wanted. She felt a little dizzy with it.

"Ooh!" The Doctor chirruped, invading her reverie. "Driver, stop here!"

"Please." He added belatedly.

"What?" Rose looked out the window as the car pulled sharply into the drive of a greasy-looking diner.

"Breakfast!" The Doctor said happily.

"Here?" Rose said, nonplussed.

"Well, I had a very eventful day yesterday. And night." The Doctor grinned cheekily down at her, his eyes shining. "Come on. Full English breakfast? Sausages, eggs, sausages, tomato, sausages? You don't need socks to eat sausages!"

Rose was laughing as the Doctor began pulling her out of the car before the driver even had a chance to engage 'park'.

He burst energetically into the diner and began prowling around as Rose followed him in.

"Ohw, this is _perfect_ innit?" He crowed. "English dining at its finest." He bent to examine the dusty chalkboard with the day's specials scrawled indifferently across it. "Hash!" He exclaimed. "Love it! _Hash_. No idea what's in it but with enough ketchup it's almost food. Oh! Hello!" He straightened when a bored-looking waitress approached them, a carafe of coffee in her hand.

"Sit anywhere you want." She said briefly, her expression never wavering, before walking away again.

"Come on, Rose. Anywhere you want." The Doctor repeated cheerfully. Rose gave him a bemused look and found a booth.

They both began reading the plastic menus and the bored waitress returned to say only "Drink?" and wait long enough to hear their responses before sloping off again.

"What're you having?" The Doctor asked.

"Oh, some toast and tea will suit me." Rose said. "Maybe an egg."

"I'm having the English breakfast with hash."

"Might be a bit dodgy." Rose laughed.

"You only live once!" The Doctor said and immediately laughed merrily at his own joke. "You see? Only live _once_?" He stopped and frowned when Rose didn't join in. "What's wrong?"

Rose was watching something out of the corner of her eye. "Doctor, look over there." She whispered and flicked her eyes, indicating the direction.

"Hmm?" The Doctor said and, with somewhat exaggerated nonchalance, turned his head and glanced.

Jerking around he murmured, "Well, well, well, well, well. That can't be a coincidence, can it?"


	5. Chapter 5

Rose's eyes met the Doctor's and she said. "It's really there, right?"

"Oh, yes." The Doctor replied emphatically. "Oh, I am so _so_ brilliant!"

They both scrambled out of their booth, nearly knocking over the bored waitress, who was bringing their drinks.

"Sorry!" Rose said.

"Make 'em to go!" The Doctor ordered enthusiastically and raced out the door like a shot.

Rose followed him as he skidded around the far corner of the diner and came to a panting stop.

There it stood.

The TARDIS.

The Doctor was frozen. Staring at it. "But that's _my_ TARDIS." He said quietly to himself. "How...?"

"Doctor?" Rose stood behind him. "What's wrong?"

The Doctor walked up to the blue box and pressed his palm against it. Then reached into his pocket and produced a key. A twist of the lock and the door swung open with a creak in its hinges.

The Doctor stepped inside and Rose followed him.

"Doctor, it's the TARDIS!" Rose said, not understanding his suddenly troubled pensiveness.

"Yes, yes. But you're so old, girl." The Doctor said. He stroked the console and patted the engines.

"Isn't this good?" Rose asked.

"I don't understand." The Doctor said to himself. "This isn't the plan."

"It was a mad plan." Came an unfamiliar voice from the shadows of a hallway. A very young man stepped slowly into the console room and faced them. "Rose_._" He said.

Rose stared at the newcomer. He was of medium height, slim, and about her age with a shock of wild ginger hair. He was wearing a dark blue corduroy jacket, a grey t-shirt, jeans, and black Chuck Taylor-style plimsolls. He was a stranger. Then she got closer and she saw his eyes. Ancient eyes. "_D-Doctor?_" She said.

The young man gave a crooked smile and lifted his shoulders in a shrug. "Finally ginger." He said, pointing at his head.

Rose gave a strangled laugh. The ginger Doctor stepped forward, holding onto a railing, with the crooked little smile still in place. "Hello." He said.

"You regenerated." Rose said.

"Yes." He replied apologetically.

"Since yesterday?" Rose asked.

"No, Rose." Her dark-haired Doctor finally stepped in, the troubled expression still on his face. "For us, yesterday. For him...a hundred years? No. A hundred and thirteen."

"What?" Rose said in shock.

"How many times?" Rose's Doctor asked the young-looking man.

"Two." The reply was short, gruff.

"I see." Rose's Doctor said grimly.

"I don't." Rose protested. "What's going on?"

"How long have you got?" Rose's Doctor asked.

The ginger Doctor smiled. "Not long." He said. "A few minutes."

"Someone tell me what's going on!" Rose demanded testily. "It's like you're speaking code." She directed this complaint to her tall, dark-haired Doctor.

"Rose, you see...even Time Lords don't go on forever." He replied after a long pause. "Everything dies."

"He's _dying?_" Rose gasped. She turned to the ginger Doctor. "Can't you just regenerate?"

He smiled at her, his eyes lighting with some warmth. "Rose Tyler." He said. He swallowed hard. "No, I can't. I'm sorry. We only get so many goes."

"He and I thought...well, maybe he'd have time to grow a TARDIS for us, Rose. He could bring it to us just before the doors between the universes closed." Her Doctor said. "It _was_ a mad plan. TARDIS's take hundreds of years to grow and I've never been lucky with lifespans. And you could've crushed two universes in the process!" He said the last with some heat.

"I ran into some trouble...and, well, you see. Then I knew I couldn't grow one in time, so I brought you this one. Got through the void just in time. Didn't get the place quite right, though. Croydon instead of Norway..." The young ginger Doctor cut off and gritted his teeth. Sweat beaded his forehead and he sat down abruptly on the floor in the console room. "Sorry. Hurts." He said.

Rose knelt beside him and touched his face.

He gazed up at her, his face terribly pale, and gripped her hand against his cheek. "Has he been good to you? Have you been happy?" He asked it desperately.

"Yes. It hasn't been long, but yes." Rose said. She was starting to cry and she looked up to _her _Doctor. He looked back at her with his own ancient dark eyes. He walked over to them, crouched beside her, and put a strong arm around her.

"Good." The ginger Doctor said, his clutch on her hand relaxing. "That's good. No more regrets then." He said with a deep sigh. His body shook and Rose put her arms around him.

"How did this happen?" The brown-haired Doctor said gruffly.

"Doesn't matter." The dying Doctor said. "Doesn't matter. I brought her back to you. The TARDIS. So now I've given you everything I love." He gave another deep sigh and a cloud of gold light puffed from between his lips. He gave a tired chuckle. "S'pose that's enough to get me to heaven?" He asked.

"Doctor!" Rose whispered, it was a sob. "Don't go."

"He has to, Rose." Her Doctor said gently. He swallowed hard, watching himself growing weaker and weaker. "It's time."

"It's time." The ginger Doctor agreed. Another cloud of gold energy escaped with his breath. "It's Time." He repeated. His voice was just a rattle in his chest and he closed his eyes as his last, long breath rushed from his lungs, filling the TARDIS with a moment of bright golden light.

Then it was dark.

"No!" Rose begged, holding his lifeless body even as her brown-haired Doctor held her. She rocked him slowly and then lay him down, turning into her Doctor's arms with a deep, wrenching sob.

They sat on the floor of the TARDIS, huddled, until Rose's weeping relented. The Doctor held her tight, his own eyes bright with unshed tears.

He gently tilted Rose's face up to his and kissed her gently. She sniffled and sighed, resting her head against his chest. "What should we do?"

"Give him a proper Time Lord burial." The Doctor replied. He gave a bitter laugh. "That's a bit surreal, even for me. Giving myself a funeral."

"He came back." Rose said. "Could he have come back anytime?"

"No. He couldn't. It was insanely risky. It really could've collapsed two universes. I'm surprised he tried it, even knowing he was dying." The Doctor looked over at the pale, peaceful face of the dead Doctor. "But then I don't know what kind of man he was." He added.

"He was still the Doctor. Still you." Rose said. "He gave us each other. He gave us the TARDIS."

Rose sighed and shifted her weight. The Doctor lifted them both to their feet and then bent and carefully carried the body of the last Doctor down a long hallway until he reached his bedroom. He lay him on the bed gently, frowning in the dim light for a long moment.

Rose came up behind him and lay a hand on his shoulder.

"I told the driver he can go home." She said quietly. "Okay?"

"Yes. Yes...that is..." The Doctor paused.

"What?"

"Do you want to go home? To London?" The Doctor asked.

"I want to stay with you." Rose said. "Forever."

"I go where you go." The Doctor returned seriously. "Shall we go traveling or settle down?"

"We'll have time to settle down later." Rose said, her eyes shining.

The Doctor's face blossomed into a smile. "I can take you anywhere now. No more timelines to worry about. A whole new _universe_ and...Gallifrey. _Gallifrey!_" He shouted the second time. "Oh! I'd stopped hoping. But it _could _be there and then we could take...me...there." He started to blink back tears, all the while laughing. "I could be buried at home!"

Rose beamed up at him and he gave one long, last glance at the body of the last of the Time Lords before bolting out the door and into the console room.

Rose lingered a while. She arranged his hands peacefully on his chest, straightened his jacket and, finally, pressed a soft kiss to his cheek. It was already growing cool. "Thank you, Doctor." She whispered. "For all of this. The TARDIS, my family, _him. _I'll never forget you. I never could."

The rattling of the TARDIS gears caused her to take a deep breath and swallow against the tears that threatened to fall again.

She left the room and walked down the hallway. She came into the console room where a wild-haired man in a suit danced madly about the instruments, just where he belonged. As she entered he looked up and saw her. His dark shining eyes met hers as he threw a lever and the TARDIS's core whooped and sparkled.

He smiled and Rose knew that _this_ was their day after day. _This _was the Doctor in the TARDIS with Rose Tyler. Just as it should be. Forever.

The End


End file.
